None. Because we're not shills who proclaim something good or bad just because it came from a D or an R. I'm a liberal. Hell, I'm a progressive. And I can rightly say that Obama is a center right corporate shill. I can rightly say that he's george bush lite. I can say he broke his promise on gitmo, his nobel peace prize was a joke, and he magically became for the patriot act after he got elected. Because I'm not a shill.
There are republicans that I agree with on some things. Hell, I HATE Rand Paul. I think he's an ideologue. I also think he's an idiot. But if he's going to actually fight against the NSA overstep, I'm with him all the way. As long as he actually does it and it's not just grandstanding.
This bill is obviously bad. Don't use it to try to jack up the political rhetoric and demonize your opponent. It only highlights that you're doing the exact thing you're accusing us of doing (except we're not doing it. It's just you.)
I can't believe we're even having this debate barely a month after the debacle in West Virginia. A company didn't inspect their own tanks, the EPA regs were LAX, not tight, and 300,000 people couldn't even wash their hands in their water for a week, let alone drink it. It's not even ancient history. It happened THIS YEAR, and it's FEBRUARY!
At best, this would just be used as a stall tactic while companies tied up the EPA with further appeals. They already do that. This is just another tactic to use.
Everyone here should be quite aware that the EPA does a needed and useful job. I like not having lead in my kids' toys, formaldehyde in my milk, and chlorine gas in my air. Regulations are IMPORTANT. They keep us safe. Remember, it's way cheaper to not be safe.
Your entire post is a logical fallacy. "Black and White". You know this.
"Where two alternative states are presented as the only possibilities, when in fact more possibilities exist.
Whilst rallying support for his plan to fundamentally undermine citizens’ rights, the Supreme Leader told the people they were either on his side, or on the side of the enemy."
There are plenty of alternatives. Like, I don't know, Allowing the EPA to regulate based on common sense (storage tanks in west virginia should be checked out once a year. Good science? I don't know. But it's common sense.) and known science (yes, formaldehyde is bad for people). Basically, shut up and let the EPA do it's job.
I can't believe we're having this discussion barely a month out from the West Virgiania debacle.
Oh yeah, those stupid deals with city governments are terrible. We can all agree on that. I see your point. Perhaps you shouldn't broadly say "regulation is the problem". Perhaps you should instead say "those monopoly granting deals are bad." There's a big difference.
Oh, and your example of removing regulations? If you remove federal insurance AND allow banks to make risky investments, you're saying that's the BEST alternative. Magically banks have to be responsible with the money they handle for their clients? You need to take a history lesson.
And this is the problem with libertarian/conservative thought on this stuff. There's this magic belief that The Free Market (which doesn't exist, has never existed, and will never exist) fixes everything. If you took away the federal insurance and let the banks do what they wanted, we'd be Busted in a heartbeat. These things need regulation and oversight so they're stable. We need the basic infrastructure of our society to be stable so we can count on it when we're all out trying to start/run businesses!
Did Disney films start having strong female protagonists? I doubt it.
I didn't say anything about school I mean life. If they are forceful, strong, self reliant? They get labeled bossy, bitchy, pushy. This happens.
And no, the assholes I work with actually were thoughtful about it. They clearly AREN'T representative of an entire industy.
But the thing that weirds me out the most is I'm basically arguing that my daughter should have every opportunity, and that women aren't treated equally, which we all should know is true, and you're arguing with me. What's wrong with you?
Feminism: The belief that women should be (and are not) politically, economically, and socially equal.
Feminist: Someone who believes in feminism. Yes. I think think women are equal. Yes. I think they're not TREATED equally. I'd like that to change.
And if my daughter wants to wear pink, she'll wear pink. But I'm not going to force it on her and I'm going to do my best to make sure she knows she can do anything she wants with her life and she's just as good as anyone else. are you going to give me shit about that?
We had two bosses. One liked to yell as a motivator. That was the guy. One was pretty cool to work for because they listened to us. One was a man, one was a woman. The woman left (probably because she didn't like being yelled at and was competent and could work in another department. Now we're stuck with the guy.
There is absolutely a benefit to encouraging women. They tend to be a LOT more sane than men are, or at least have better social skills. Yes. There are differences. And man do we NEED those differences. Go Women!
"that's just what most everyone in tech fails to do : listen to them and take them seriously (including the criticism)." If I could mod you up, I would. The problem, is US. Well, you guys. Most here are badly socialized assholes. Just look at the dismissing, the crude jokes, the outright BS in this post. This is the shit that needs to be fixed.
I used to know when there was a new woman hired. There'd be ten guys standing around a cube beating their chest... I'm exaggerating, but not by much.
A lot of the comments here are pretty foul. A lot of "There's no sexism!" A lot of "Oh yeah, well they do it too!". Oh, there's a "our brains are wired differently!" That's an old standby. There's the old "They just fake interest to get dates." There's a rant against feminists.
Notice that most of the comments are from dudes, and they're derogatory or dismissive......
One day I will have a daughter. I don't want her listening to you assholes. Of the posts I read, ONE was supportive and suggested actually listening to women. The rest of you denied the problem, cracked crude jokes, or blamed it on physiological differences. No. The problem is you.
My daughter will not get any pink shit. No princess shit. She'll be told from day one that she's good at math, and I don't care if she grows up to be a..... glassblow, whatever, i picked something at random, but she'll have CHOICES and won't be shuttled to the back of the intellectual bus by the likes of you people. You should be ashamed of yourselves. The problem is YOU, you social skill lacking, self problem denying, asshats.
Little girls get told to be princesses. They grow up watching crappy disney films where the princess gets passively rescued by the prince. They get passed over and thought less competant. They get pushed and force fed images from day one. If they are forceful, strong, self reliant? They get labeled bossy, bitchy, pushy. This pervades every field. But tech IS terrible, and you should all be intelligent enough to know this. But that would require looking at your own part in it.
My own personal story? We had an opening. For weeks the jokes flew, "man, I hope we don't get a chick, we'd have to stop swearing and telling jokes." Well, we got a dude. My coworkers were discussing this very topic later, and denying it ever existed when I stopped them and asked them if they thought our boss had overheard us (of course he had) and if it had swayed his opinion, even unconsciously. They were silent. Of course it had, how could it not have? At least they had the good graces to show some remorse and take some responsibility.
Excellent! You get the government to remove the barriers to me being a competing ISP and we'll start a new one. I expect tanks at Comcast headquarters within the month.:D They ARE the main barrier to competition after all.:D
Oh, that's not what you meant? Perhaps we could just make a rule that the lines (paid for with government subsidies) had to be shared. That any large company had to lease the lines to any other company, just like we did with the old COMMON CARRIER phone lines? That would open the field up to competition...
argh. Your answer frustrates me. It's not !@#$ing governement regulation that's the problem here. You can't deregulate this and make things better. The number one problem here is that these companies took subsidies, built lines, and ACTIVELY lobbied for city policies that hindered competition. This is not a problem of Big Gubmint! This is a problem of NOT regulating enough. I read your post down below. That sort of shit shouldn't be allowed. It ISN'T allowed on phone lines. Guess what. Phone lines are common carrier.
Bring back common carrier status and most of this stupidity goes away. Also, you don't know what you're talking about. Yes, many companies make deals and carve up cities. Yes, this is bad. Frankly, it IS impractical to run multiple lines everywhere. We had this exact same issue with phone lines, we fixed them, and it's only due to the shenanigans of these large companies that we're having these exact same problems again.
Regulate. Make them common carriers (which they used to be until we deregulated them, and magically we started having problems. )
Poo goes into a bucket lined with a compostable bag. I sprinkle coconut coir on it. Urine is sterile (and it's what smells bad) so it goes out a pipe and into a greywater system (basically a french drain in the yard).
It works like a charm. The solids are composted for a year to make sure any nasty bugs that might be in there die, and I put the waste on the roses and not the garden. No Problem.
The article starts off with "Israel Plans", except it's not Israel, it's an organization inside Israel? I had a salad for lunch. "America has salad for lunch! Later plans to visit restroom!"
I think I'm going to bite. I probably shouldn't, but here goes....
I'm liberal. I'm Progressive. The Democratic party rarely represents me. I see them as corporatists.
I believe the largest problem the USA has right now is that Congress represents their donors, and not us. We've been passing legislation at the behest of large entities, and not at the behest of the little guy. Naturally, now it's kind of sucking to be a little guy. I place equal blame on the CongressCritters for playing the game, on the Rich Assholes who legally bribe them, and the system that makes it so that the guy with the most funds wins the election.
I don't want the government to run everything. I want the government to do their jobs and create the framework and infrastructure that allows us all to get on with life, business, etc. That's what government is for. I like public infrastructure. I like social safety nets. I like a government run health insurance. I like buying civilization with my taxes. I also like private insurance for those that want better. I like business (I'm trying to run one).
I'm mad as hell that the banks got a bailout for their bad behavior. I'm mad that the only one that seemed to go to prison is Bernie Madoff, and it seems that's because he stole from rich people. I'm mad at Congress for their stupid behavior. I'm mad a Obama for being a gigantic NSA allowing, drone killing, not holding anyone accountable as the head of the executive branch, why didn't he just push to extend medicare all the way down as an option that people could have bought into as a cheap alternative to private insurance that would have had to improve past that basic level Jebus he didn't even try! Tool. He's a Tool.
I don't want to argue with you. It's obvious we disagree on some things. I just want to shake your hand and tell you that I'm a liberal. I want liberty. I'm not drinking the cool-aid. And I'm not the stereotype you seem to think I am. I'm much more nuanced. I have depth. I'm sure you do too, and if we sat down and listened to each other, asked some intelligent questions, I bet we'd find that we'd agree on quite a few things. Like... We're getting screwed. Jebus, what happened to the 4th amendment?! Obama is a Tool. Congress doesn't represent us at all. Bring the troops home and lets mind our own business for a while. Lets make it easy to start a small business in this country. Lets make sure we have decent, easy to understand regulations, and lets actually ENFORCE them for a change. Oh, and that most of what our elected officials do is a dog and pony show that accomplishes nothing.
Breath my friend. Please realize that when you start getting excited and throwing out words like "slavers and feudalists", people start discounting what you have to say, and even though I disagree with you on basic policy, I can see that you've put some thought into it and you're not a stereotype. Please return the favor.
I had read that somewhere in... Spain? They had a much better idea. If 5 people (or so, sketchy on details) would get together and form a business, the government would give them 3-5? years of their unemployment as a lump sum.... Here you go, go start a business. Oddly enough, that region had a LOT of co-op/small businesses.
Importing more people to Detroit is a stupid idea. Why not foster the entrepreneurial spirit of the people already there?
Homesteading is another good idea. Give away free houses (instead of bulldozing them) to people who start businesses.
Oh wait, those two completely awesome ideas are SOCIALIST!!!! Can't have that.....
Younger generations don't seem to care? It seems to me like younger generations are the ONLY ones that care. The older generations are the ones that got us here.
Don't put shit on the youth. They're active. They care. OUR apathy and ignorance got us here.
I'll second this. CEOs, please treat your workers better.
/gets on his horse. Ahem. I buy all of my clothing second hand because I don't want my dollar supporting a company that uses little kids to sew garments, or any other horrible practice. Shoes are hard though. I only buy New Balance, and only particular NB shoes, because they're made in America, (although any country with decent enough labor practices would do). NB has me as a customer because everyone else is an asshole.
I try to extend this practice to everything I consume. Food. Cars. Lumber. Electricity. Gasoline is a tough one.... Anyway. There are people willing to vote with their dollar and good corporate behavior is rewarded.
So... since bad guys find loopholes, we shouldn't even try? If we extend that mindset we shouldn't have labor laws, environmental regs, building codes, etc etc etc. I don't want to live in your world.
OR, we could see it as a continual fight. Something that's never won, but worth fighting for. I personally would like my clothing to not be made my little kids in some foreign country. I'd like the materials that go into my electronics to not be mined by slave labor. I'd like the products I use to be built by people making a decent living wage. I'm quite willing to fight for that. I like my world better.
I've heard it reported that Union jobs make about 30% more than non union jobs. So lets say they're making $26/hour instead of $20.
The incentive to ship jobs to China is a lack of environmental regs and the ability to pay workers approximately $1.50 to $2.20 an hour. Union or not, those jobs were going there. Unions had nothing to do with it.
The companies saw a chance to increase their profit, and damn the workers or the consequences to the American economy. And you blame the Unions... The ONLY people fighting to keep your wage high. Awesome.
Next up, Prostitution is the fault of Prostitues, and Slave Labor is the fault of children....
The beauty of a liberal society is that you are free to be as conservative as you want. Wear a funny hat. Pray. Don't get drunk. Whatever. No one cares.
They should cover basic contraceptives and stop being assholes. If their members don't want to use contraceptives, then they don't have to. Tellingly, although contraceptives are a "no no" for Catholics, most STILL USE THEM. That decision should be up to the individual, not their employer.
Ah, and the ugliness of a conservative society is that you're STILL as free to be as conservative as you want.:D you WILL wear a funny hat, pray, no drinking or having fun... And EVERYONE cares.
Your entire post was about liberals making excuses for "their guy". You don't get to play the victim here. Oh, poor you. I'm accusing you of singling out liberals.... Which is what you did. So stuff your call for introspection.
If you'd like more liberals mad at Obama... How about Harry Reid? He keeps saying Obama is a shit negotiator who gives away everything and then wonders why the R's don't meet him halfway. How about watching the Young Turks sometime? How about Bernie Sanders? Elizabeth Warren? How about almost every fucking liberal I know?
Go TALK to some liberals. Really. And yes, my words might not go over well with the DNC. That's the reason this country has swung to the right so much. There is NO tea party for the left, driving politics to the left. It's hopefully starting up with the more Progressive Congresscritters coming out.
Yeah yeah, Ron Paul. I happen to like Ron Paul up the the point where he says something crazy. Every time I listen to him I'm all... "yeah... Yeah... Yeah!..... YEAH!....... Wait, what? No! that's a terrible idea! We can't abolish the EPA!" If he'd stop one point short of crazy, I'd be all for him.... AND I STILL LOVE THE GUY. He's one of the few people to stand up and point out the stupidities of the system. I'm a liberal, and I LOVE RON PAUL.... I just don't like the third of what he says about getting rid of the government and going back to the gold standard.
Part of educating is creating, messing up, creating some more. Tinkering. Ipads(and all tablets really) SUCK at creation. They are content consumption devices. They are nothing more than smart TVs in your hand. Stop giving them to kids!
Can I code on a tablet? No thank you. Can I pick one up in shop class and do the math to figure out the angle of a roof beam? No thank you. Can I sketch out a new idea? Maaaaaybe? Can I easily take notes on it? No thank you. Can I use it to take pictures of all the steps in a chemistry or physics experiment? Yes! Can I use it to record all the temperatures from said experiment? No thank you. Ok, yes, I can do all those things, but it takes FOREVER on a tablet.
Sad fact, to do meaningful work, tablets need KEYBOARDS!!!! To consume media, all I have to do is point and click. To CREATE(at any sane speed), a keyboard is necessary.
Instead of demonizing "liberals" as unable to form cogent fucking thoughts, not to mention rabid hack partisan asshats who suddenly agree with horrible policies..... You could realize, and I speak here as a liberal, that we FUCKING STILL HATE THEM AND ARE HORRIBLY DISAPPOINTED IN OBAMA FOR CONTINUING THEM. Really.
I mean, really, Fuck Obama. I'm a liberal. Fuck him. Fuck him for continuing those stupid practices. Fuck him for gitmo, fuck him for the NSA, fuck him for the warrantless wiretapping, for continuing the Patriot Act, for all the warmongering over Iran, etc etc etc.
There, see? We don't just magically agree with shit because it's "Our Guy" in office. Fuck Obama. Perhaps you should think better of us now, hmm?
/sarcasm Yeah! damn California and their emissions rules. If they hadn't passed regulations in cali, the auto manufacturers wouldn't have had to change, and my car would still get 15m/gal! Etc etc etc... Damn California! Not to mention all those things that cause cancer in California... but not in other states.
There's a lot wrong with Cali, but all the rules and regulations that have come out of there have been to everyone's benefit. Why do people keep criticizing the very people who are helping them?
And of course, the enormous reservoirs of natural gas are going to last forever! Just like the enormous reserves of easily obtained oil (which are gone, hence all the far offshore drilling and fraking)! And there are no consequences from pumping water and weird chemicals into the ground under pressure to crack the earth, releasing those natural gasses into the ground water, and then siphoning it all up and pumping the weird nasty water back into the ground to stay there and seep into the water table. Yeah!
$12 for a bulb that lasts nearly forever and uses 11W instead of 60W, is pretty damn cheap. Quit complaining.
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None. Because we're not shills who proclaim something good or bad just because it came from a D or an R. I'm a liberal. Hell, I'm a progressive. And I can rightly say that Obama is a center right corporate shill. I can rightly say that he's george bush lite. I can say he broke his promise on gitmo, his nobel peace prize was a joke, and he magically became for the patriot act after he got elected. Because I'm not a shill.
There are republicans that I agree with on some things. Hell, I HATE Rand Paul. I think he's an ideologue. I also think he's an idiot. But if he's going to actually fight against the NSA overstep, I'm with him all the way. As long as he actually does it and it's not just grandstanding.
This bill is obviously bad. Don't use it to try to jack up the political rhetoric and demonize your opponent. It only highlights that you're doing the exact thing you're accusing us of doing (except we're not doing it. It's just you.)
I can't believe we're even having this debate barely a month after the debacle in West Virginia. A company didn't inspect their own tanks, the EPA regs were LAX, not tight, and 300,000 people couldn't even wash their hands in their water for a week, let alone drink it. It's not even ancient history. It happened THIS YEAR, and it's FEBRUARY!
At best, this would just be used as a stall tactic while companies tied up the EPA with further appeals. They already do that. This is just another tactic to use.
Everyone here should be quite aware that the EPA does a needed and useful job. I like not having lead in my kids' toys, formaldehyde in my milk, and chlorine gas in my air. Regulations are IMPORTANT. They keep us safe. Remember, it's way cheaper to not be safe.
Your entire post is a logical fallacy. "Black and White". You know this.
"Where two alternative states are presented as the only possibilities, when in fact more possibilities exist.
Whilst rallying support for his plan to fundamentally undermine citizens’ rights, the Supreme Leader told the people they were either on his side, or on the side of the enemy."
There are plenty of alternatives. Like, I don't know, Allowing the EPA to regulate based on common sense (storage tanks in west virginia should be checked out once a year. Good science? I don't know. But it's common sense.) and known science (yes, formaldehyde is bad for people). Basically, shut up and let the EPA do it's job.
I can't believe we're having this discussion barely a month out from the West Virgiania debacle.
Oh yeah, those stupid deals with city governments are terrible. We can all agree on that. I see your point. Perhaps you shouldn't broadly say "regulation is the problem". Perhaps you should instead say "those monopoly granting deals are bad." There's a big difference.
Oh, and your example of removing regulations? If you remove federal insurance AND allow banks to make risky investments, you're saying that's the BEST alternative. Magically banks have to be responsible with the money they handle for their clients? You need to take a history lesson.
And this is the problem with libertarian/conservative thought on this stuff. There's this magic belief that The Free Market (which doesn't exist, has never existed, and will never exist) fixes everything. If you took away the federal insurance and let the banks do what they wanted, we'd be Busted in a heartbeat. These things need regulation and oversight so they're stable. We need the basic infrastructure of our society to be stable so we can count on it when we're all out trying to start/run businesses!
Did Disney films start having strong female protagonists? I doubt it.
I didn't say anything about school I mean life. If they are forceful, strong, self reliant? They get labeled bossy, bitchy, pushy. This happens.
And no, the assholes I work with actually were thoughtful about it. They clearly AREN'T representative of an entire industy.
But the thing that weirds me out the most is I'm basically arguing that my daughter should have every opportunity, and that women aren't treated equally, which we all should know is true, and you're arguing with me. What's wrong with you?
Yes, I am a feminist.
Feminism: The belief that women should be (and are not) politically, economically, and socially equal.
Feminist: Someone who believes in feminism. Yes. I think think women are equal. Yes. I think they're not TREATED equally. I'd like that to change.
And if my daughter wants to wear pink, she'll wear pink. But I'm not going to force it on her and I'm going to do my best to make sure she knows she can do anything she wants with her life and she's just as good as anyone else. are you going to give me shit about that?
We had two bosses. One liked to yell as a motivator. That was the guy. One was pretty cool to work for because they listened to us. One was a man, one was a woman. The woman left (probably because she didn't like being yelled at and was competent and could work in another department. Now we're stuck with the guy.
There is absolutely a benefit to encouraging women. They tend to be a LOT more sane than men are, or at least have better social skills. Yes. There are differences. And man do we NEED those differences. Go Women!
"that's just what most everyone in tech fails to do : listen to them and take them seriously (including the criticism)." If I could mod you up, I would. The problem, is US. Well, you guys. Most here are badly socialized assholes. Just look at the dismissing, the crude jokes, the outright BS in this post. This is the shit that needs to be fixed.
I used to know when there was a new woman hired. There'd be ten guys standing around a cube beating their chest... I'm exaggerating, but not by much.
A lot of the comments here are pretty foul. A lot of "There's no sexism!" A lot of "Oh yeah, well they do it too!". Oh, there's a "our brains are wired differently!" That's an old standby. There's the old "They just fake interest to get dates." There's a rant against feminists.
Notice that most of the comments are from dudes, and they're derogatory or dismissive......
One day I will have a daughter. I don't want her listening to you assholes. Of the posts I read, ONE was supportive and suggested actually listening to women. The rest of you denied the problem, cracked crude jokes, or blamed it on physiological differences. No. The problem is you.
My daughter will not get any pink shit. No princess shit. She'll be told from day one that she's good at math, and I don't care if she grows up to be a ..... glassblow, whatever, i picked something at random, but she'll have CHOICES and won't be shuttled to the back of the intellectual bus by the likes of you people. You should be ashamed of yourselves. The problem is YOU, you social skill lacking, self problem denying, asshats.
Little girls get told to be princesses. They grow up watching crappy disney films where the princess gets passively rescued by the prince. They get passed over and thought less competant. They get pushed and force fed images from day one. If they are forceful, strong, self reliant? They get labeled bossy, bitchy, pushy. This pervades every field. But tech IS terrible, and you should all be intelligent enough to know this. But that would require looking at your own part in it.
My own personal story? We had an opening. For weeks the jokes flew, "man, I hope we don't get a chick, we'd have to stop swearing and telling jokes." Well, we got a dude. My coworkers were discussing this very topic later, and denying it ever existed when I stopped them and asked them if they thought our boss had overheard us (of course he had) and if it had swayed his opinion, even unconsciously. They were silent. Of course it had, how could it not have? At least they had the good graces to show some remorse and take some responsibility.
Excellent! You get the government to remove the barriers to me being a competing ISP and we'll start a new one. I expect tanks at Comcast headquarters within the month. :D They ARE the main barrier to competition after all. :D
Oh, that's not what you meant? Perhaps we could just make a rule that the lines (paid for with government subsidies) had to be shared. That any large company had to lease the lines to any other company, just like we did with the old COMMON CARRIER phone lines? That would open the field up to competition...
argh. Your answer frustrates me. It's not !@#$ing governement regulation that's the problem here. You can't deregulate this and make things better. The number one problem here is that these companies took subsidies, built lines, and ACTIVELY lobbied for city policies that hindered competition. This is not a problem of Big Gubmint! This is a problem of NOT regulating enough. I read your post down below. That sort of shit shouldn't be allowed. It ISN'T allowed on phone lines. Guess what. Phone lines are common carrier.
Bring back common carrier status and most of this stupidity goes away. Also, you don't know what you're talking about. Yes, many companies make deals and carve up cities. Yes, this is bad. Frankly, it IS impractical to run multiple lines everywhere. We had this exact same issue with phone lines, we fixed them, and it's only due to the shenanigans of these large companies that we're having these exact same problems again.
Regulate. Make them common carriers (which they used to be until we deregulated them, and magically we started having problems. )
I use a composting toilet in my house. I use one of These to seperate out my urine. http://www.ecovita.net/privy50...
Poo goes into a bucket lined with a compostable bag. I sprinkle coconut coir on it. Urine is sterile (and it's what smells bad) so it goes out a pipe and into a greywater system (basically a french drain in the yard).
It works like a charm. The solids are composted for a year to make sure any nasty bugs that might be in there die, and I put the waste on the roses and not the garden. No Problem.
The article starts off with "Israel Plans", except it's not Israel, it's an organization inside Israel? I had a salad for lunch. "America has salad for lunch! Later plans to visit restroom!"
I think I'm going to bite. I probably shouldn't, but here goes....
I'm liberal. I'm Progressive. The Democratic party rarely represents me. I see them as corporatists.
I believe the largest problem the USA has right now is that Congress represents their donors, and not us. We've been passing legislation at the behest of large entities, and not at the behest of the little guy. Naturally, now it's kind of sucking to be a little guy. I place equal blame on the CongressCritters for playing the game, on the Rich Assholes who legally bribe them, and the system that makes it so that the guy with the most funds wins the election.
I don't want the government to run everything. I want the government to do their jobs and create the framework and infrastructure that allows us all to get on with life, business, etc. That's what government is for. I like public infrastructure. I like social safety nets. I like a government run health insurance. I like buying civilization with my taxes. I also like private insurance for those that want better. I like business (I'm trying to run one).
I'm mad as hell that the banks got a bailout for their bad behavior. I'm mad that the only one that seemed to go to prison is Bernie Madoff, and it seems that's because he stole from rich people. I'm mad at Congress for their stupid behavior. I'm mad a Obama for being a gigantic NSA allowing, drone killing, not holding anyone accountable as the head of the executive branch, why didn't he just push to extend medicare all the way down as an option that people could have bought into as a cheap alternative to private insurance that would have had to improve past that basic level Jebus he didn't even try! Tool. He's a Tool.
I don't want to argue with you. It's obvious we disagree on some things. I just want to shake your hand and tell you that I'm a liberal. I want liberty. I'm not drinking the cool-aid. And I'm not the stereotype you seem to think I am. I'm much more nuanced. I have depth. I'm sure you do too, and if we sat down and listened to each other, asked some intelligent questions, I bet we'd find that we'd agree on quite a few things. Like... We're getting screwed. Jebus, what happened to the 4th amendment?! Obama is a Tool. Congress doesn't represent us at all. Bring the troops home and lets mind our own business for a while. Lets make it easy to start a small business in this country. Lets make sure we have decent, easy to understand regulations, and lets actually ENFORCE them for a change. Oh, and that most of what our elected officials do is a dog and pony show that accomplishes nothing.
Breath my friend. Please realize that when you start getting excited and throwing out words like "slavers and feudalists", people start discounting what you have to say, and even though I disagree with you on basic policy, I can see that you've put some thought into it and you're not a stereotype. Please return the favor.
I had read that somewhere in... Spain? They had a much better idea. If 5 people (or so, sketchy on details) would get together and form a business, the government would give them 3-5? years of their unemployment as a lump sum.... Here you go, go start a business. Oddly enough, that region had a LOT of co-op/small businesses.
Importing more people to Detroit is a stupid idea. Why not foster the entrepreneurial spirit of the people already there?
Homesteading is another good idea. Give away free houses (instead of bulldozing them) to people who start businesses.
Oh wait, those two completely awesome ideas are SOCIALIST!!!! Can't have that.....
Younger generations don't seem to care? It seems to me like younger generations are the ONLY ones that care. The older generations are the ones that got us here.
Don't put shit on the youth. They're active. They care. OUR apathy and ignorance got us here.
I'll second this. CEOs, please treat your workers better.
/gets on his horse. Ahem. I buy all of my clothing second hand because I don't want my dollar supporting a company that uses little kids to sew garments, or any other horrible practice. Shoes are hard though. I only buy New Balance, and only particular NB shoes, because they're made in America, (although any country with decent enough labor practices would do). NB has me as a customer because everyone else is an asshole.
I try to extend this practice to everything I consume. Food. Cars. Lumber. Electricity. Gasoline is a tough one.... Anyway. There are people willing to vote with their dollar and good corporate behavior is rewarded.
So... since bad guys find loopholes, we shouldn't even try? If we extend that mindset we shouldn't have labor laws, environmental regs, building codes, etc etc etc. I don't want to live in your world.
OR, we could see it as a continual fight. Something that's never won, but worth fighting for. I personally would like my clothing to not be made my little kids in some foreign country. I'd like the materials that go into my electronics to not be mined by slave labor. I'd like the products I use to be built by people making a decent living wage. I'm quite willing to fight for that. I like my world better.
I've heard it reported that Union jobs make about 30% more than non union jobs. So lets say they're making $26/hour instead of $20.
The incentive to ship jobs to China is a lack of environmental regs and the ability to pay workers approximately $1.50 to $2.20 an hour. Union or not, those jobs were going there. Unions had nothing to do with it.
The companies saw a chance to increase their profit, and damn the workers or the consequences to the American economy. And you blame the Unions... The ONLY people fighting to keep your wage high. Awesome.
Next up, Prostitution is the fault of Prostitues, and Slave Labor is the fault of children....
The beauty of a liberal society is that you are free to be as conservative as you want. Wear a funny hat. Pray. Don't get drunk. Whatever. No one cares.
They should cover basic contraceptives and stop being assholes. If their members don't want to use contraceptives, then they don't have to. Tellingly, although contraceptives are a "no no" for Catholics, most STILL USE THEM. That decision should be up to the individual, not their employer.
Ah, and the ugliness of a conservative society is that you're STILL as free to be as conservative as you want. :D you WILL wear a funny hat, pray, no drinking or having fun... And EVERYONE cares.
Your entire post was about liberals making excuses for "their guy". You don't get to play the victim here. Oh, poor you. I'm accusing you of singling out liberals.... Which is what you did. So stuff your call for introspection.
If you'd like more liberals mad at Obama... How about Harry Reid? He keeps saying Obama is a shit negotiator who gives away everything and then wonders why the R's don't meet him halfway. How about watching the Young Turks sometime? How about Bernie Sanders? Elizabeth Warren? How about almost every fucking liberal I know?
Go TALK to some liberals. Really. And yes, my words might not go over well with the DNC. That's the reason this country has swung to the right so much. There is NO tea party for the left, driving politics to the left. It's hopefully starting up with the more Progressive Congresscritters coming out.
Yeah yeah, Ron Paul. I happen to like Ron Paul up the the point where he says something crazy. Every time I listen to him I'm all... "yeah... Yeah... Yeah!..... YEAH!....... Wait, what? No! that's a terrible idea! We can't abolish the EPA!" If he'd stop one point short of crazy, I'd be all for him.... AND I STILL LOVE THE GUY. He's one of the few people to stand up and point out the stupidities of the system. I'm a liberal, and I LOVE RON PAUL.... I just don't like the third of what he says about getting rid of the government and going back to the gold standard.
Part of educating is creating, messing up, creating some more. Tinkering. Ipads(and all tablets really) SUCK at creation. They are content consumption devices. They are nothing more than smart TVs in your hand. Stop giving them to kids!
Can I code on a tablet? No thank you. Can I pick one up in shop class and do the math to figure out the angle of a roof beam? No thank you. Can I sketch out a new idea? Maaaaaybe? Can I easily take notes on it? No thank you. Can I use it to take pictures of all the steps in a chemistry or physics experiment? Yes! Can I use it to record all the temperatures from said experiment? No thank you. Ok, yes, I can do all those things, but it takes FOREVER on a tablet.
Sad fact, to do meaningful work, tablets need KEYBOARDS!!!! To consume media, all I have to do is point and click. To CREATE(at any sane speed), a keyboard is necessary.
Get off my lawn!
Hey CanHasDIY?
Instead of demonizing "liberals" as unable to form cogent fucking thoughts, not to mention rabid hack partisan asshats who suddenly agree with horrible policies..... You could realize, and I speak here as a liberal, that we FUCKING STILL HATE THEM AND ARE HORRIBLY DISAPPOINTED IN OBAMA FOR CONTINUING THEM. Really.
I mean, really, Fuck Obama. I'm a liberal. Fuck him. Fuck him for continuing those stupid practices. Fuck him for gitmo, fuck him for the NSA, fuck him for the warrantless wiretapping, for continuing the Patriot Act, for all the warmongering over Iran, etc etc etc.
There, see? We don't just magically agree with shit because it's "Our Guy" in office. Fuck Obama. Perhaps you should think better of us now, hmm?
California has a nominal GDP that's about the same as Canada's... No, you cannot just skip California.
/sarcasm Yeah! damn California and their emissions rules. If they hadn't passed regulations in cali, the auto manufacturers wouldn't have had to change, and my car would still get 15m/gal! Etc etc etc... Damn California! Not to mention all those things that cause cancer in California... but not in other states.
There's a lot wrong with Cali, but all the rules and regulations that have come out of there have been to everyone's benefit. Why do people keep criticizing the very people who are helping them?
And of course, the enormous reservoirs of natural gas are going to last forever! Just like the enormous reserves of easily obtained oil (which are gone, hence all the far offshore drilling and fraking)! And there are no consequences from pumping water and weird chemicals into the ground under pressure to crack the earth, releasing those natural gasses into the ground water, and then siphoning it all up and pumping the weird nasty water back into the ground to stay there and seep into the water table. Yeah!
$12 for a bulb that lasts nearly forever and uses 11W instead of 60W, is pretty damn cheap. Quit complaining.
But yeah, CFLs really do suck.